Sources and scope
This page collects workplace experiences, questions and discussions submitted by users. Dates shown are submission dates, not periods of employment. Individual reports do not describe the entire company.
Read the community guidelines1. The educational requirements are not high, making it suitable for people without specialized skills or ideas about the future. Once you decide to join, be mentally prepared and determined to stay until retirement.
2. The year-end bonus is an annual news benchmark. No matter how bad the overall environment is, there is always a guaranteed minimum. Although it cannot compare with the technology industry, it is still better than that of most companies.
3. Formosa Plastics is a “connections-based” enterprise: as long as you have connections, nothing is a problem.
1. When I first joined, more than 90% of the people there were senior employees nearing retirement. I encountered all kinds of buck-passing and slacking off. Newcomers did all the work, and even if those senior employees were fined, their salaries would still be more than twice yours.
2. As mentioned above, the equipment is also quite old, and as time goes by, more and more problems arise. I jokingly call Nan Ya’s three treasures: abnormalities, alarms, and things that cannot be repaired.
3. Just like serving in the military, remove your IQ when you log in. When filling out your onboarding documents, you will be made to hand-copy and sign an article resembling a deed of indenture. “Thinking” will only make you feel that there is no hope for the future.
4. Managers and above in the office are all very proud of the three-shift rotation system: morning, night, and afternoon shifts change every week, so you have to adjust your sleep schedule every week.
5. If the unit you join requires you to work with equipment involving high voltage, high temperatures, steam, water, oil, chemicals, or similar hazards, protect yourself carefully, because you will not have much time to become familiar with it. If an accident occurs, you will also be the one subjected to review and criticism.
5. A senior employee nearing retirement once threatened me in the office in front of other people, saying that he would beat me outside the clock-out gate. The entire unit knew about it, but the manager was unwilling to deal with it because they did not want to be the bad guy.
6. If you are capable of taking a business trip or being assigned overseas to the Kunshan plant, just treat it as a chance to see the world. Staff turnover there is very high, so you will handle almost everything. Again, protect yourself, and do not expect the other Taiwan-based managers to accomplish anything. Even if you are injured, they will still require you to complete a 12-hour shift simply because other people got drunk, became emotional, and did not show up.
7. In recent years, some new managers who entered the workforce straight out of school have made many incorrect decisions because they did not understand the conditions on the ground, forcing on-site employees to spend even more physical and mental effort cleaning up the aftermath.
8. Any promises made by anyone here are merely empty promises, because they only want to obtain what they want from you. Even if you fulfill the other party’s expectations, they will simply turn around and deny having made any commitment.
9. This is a Formosa Plastics “connections-based” enterprise. You have no connections? Then you are in trouble.
1. If you live somewhere without any decent technology companies—for example, Chiayi—then Nanya’s salary is considered pretty good.
2. If you think companies outside are exhausting, you can join Nanya and take it easy until retirement.
3. Nanya’s salary increases depend entirely on seniority; otherwise, you have to get promoted. For your reference, an on-site employee with more than 20 years of experience receives over NT$400,000 in their year-end bonus. An on-site machine operator in southern Taiwan gets a NT$400,000 year-end bonus, works only 8 hours a day without overtime, does what they are supposed to do, and gets NT$400,000.
The following is based on my personal experience; after all, the culture differs from plant to plant.
1. Some veterans at Nanya cannot keep up with the times, so they tell newcomers that they must know how to use workplace skills, while they themselves do not learn them.
2. Nanya’s salary increases depend entirely on seniority—basically, it is all about seniority. If you are ambitious, you do not need to come here; this is not a place to strive for achievements.
3. The entire promotion system is based on connections. That’s right, it’s based on connections.
Abuse of the accountability system; overtime often cannot be reported, and penalty deduction forms result in salary deductions. (Practices vary by plant.)